Mihrişah Sultan (daughter of Şehzade Izzeddin)

Mihrişah Sultan (left) and her brother Şehzade Mehmed Nizameddin

Mihrişah Sultan was born on 1 June 1916 in Beşiktaş Palace. Her father was crown prince Şehzade Yusuf Izzeddin who had died 4 months before her birth, and her mother was Leman Hanım, the daughter of Ahmed Bey and Şükriye Hanım. She was the fourth child, and second daughter born to her father and the third child of her mother. She had two elder siblings, a sister, Şükriye Sultan, ten years elder than her and a brother, Şehzade Mehmed Nizameddin, seven years elder than her. She was the granddaughter of Abdulaziz and Dürrünev Kadın.[1]

At the exile of the imperial family in March 1924, Mihrişah moved to Alexandria, Egypt.[1] In 1934, her marriage was arranged to Şehzade Mehmed Abid, youngest son of Sultan Abdul Hamid II and Saliha Naciye Hanım, however, the marriage never materialised.[2]

Mihrişah Sultan (left) and Ömer Faruk in Cairo

Şehzade Ömer Faruk had an increased interest in his cousin Mihrişah. It was also a public knowledge that things were not going well between Faruk and his wife Princess Sabiha Sultan, the daughter of Sultan Mehmed VI.[3]

In 1944, Mihrişah even sided with Faruk when the council chose Prince Ahmed Nihad as the head of the family. While Sabiha backed the council's decision and approved the choice of the leader.[4] His daughters also sided with their mother. Faruk accused Sabiha of turning their daughters against him. But he was already in love with Mihrişah and the issue of the council was just an excuse.[5]

Faruk divorced Sabiha on 5 March 1948, after twenty eight years of marriage,[6] and just four months later married Mihrişah in a religious ceremony on 31 July 1948.[1] In the prenuptial agreement she asked that the right to divorce her husband be included in the contract.[7] She owned a small apartment building No. 8 Road 11 off Menashe Avenue in Cairo.[8]

Neslişah Sultan tells in her memoirs that after Faruk married her they were not on good terms with each other. They still saw each other but Neslişah refused to be anywhere near her. She, however, took good care of Faruk. Realizing how she was sacrificing herself for his sake, Neslişah decided to see her again. It was Faruk's habit to come to Neslişah's house for lunch on Mondays, and from then on he began to bring Mihrişah with him.[9]

However, their marriage did not last and a few years later, Mihrişah divorced Faruk using her right to divorce her husband. Later Faruk would tell his friends "I divorced the most beautiful woman in the world to marry the ugliest one. Fate!"[7]

After Mihrişah divorced Ömer Faruk, she married Şevket Arslanoğlu.[1] In 1952, Mihrişah returned to Istanbul after the revocation of the law of exile for princesses. She spent her last years with her cousin Gevheri Sultan, daughter of her uncle Şehzade Mehmed Seyfeddin, in a spacious apartment in Taksim Square.[10]

Mihrişah Sultan died on 25 January 1987 at the age of seventy, and was buried in the mausoleum of her great-grandfather Sultan Mahmud II, Divanyolu, Istanbul.[1]

Styles of Mihrişah Sultan
Reference style	Her Imperial Highness
Spoken style	Your Imperial Highness

• 1 June 1916 – 1 November 1922: Her Imperial Highness Princess Mihriban Mihrişah Sultan

• Bardakçı, Murat (2017). Neslishah: The Last Ottoman Princess. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-9-774-16837-6.